Stagecoach rolls out contactless bus travel

Perth-based Stagecoach, Britain’s biggest bus operator, announced it will introduce contactless bus travel on all of its regional bus services across the UK by the end of 2018.

The £12 million initiative will allow passengers to pay for their travel with a contactless credit or debit card as well as Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Stagecoach said it will be the first major introduction of contactless technology on Britain’s buses outside of London and will benefit customers from major urban areas to rural and island communities.

Stagecoach launched the first stage of the project with the contactless system now live on all of Stagecoach’s 180 buses in Oxfordshire.

It covers Oxford City services, commuter routes into Oxford and Oxford Tube express services which run to and from London 24 hours a day.

The facility will be rolled out to Ashford in Kent and the Tyne and Wear areas by the end of this year with Greater Manchester following in January 2017.

Stagecoach said that by the end of 2018, the state-of-the-art technology will be live on all of the firm’s 7,200 buses in England, Scotland and Wales.